Lead Astray
by quizasvivamos
Summary: Part 9 of the "With A Cherry On Top" series: Kurt's new work makes it possible for him and Blaine to move out of the loft. At their new place, Kurt makes a friend that unexpectedly becomes a new roommate.


**A/N:** This one shot is based on the following prompt...

anonymous prompted: living together for years and adopting a dog/cat

* * *

Kurt felt like he hadn't gotten a single minute of sleep in at least a month, let alone a moment just to sit down and relax. He'd been all over the city, making and answering phone calls, writing, sending, and reading emails, while racing to and from meetings in locations that were sometimes several blocks from each other.

If he didn't have Blaine, he was pretty sure he would have forgotten to eat.

Kurt couldn't remember ever feeling so exhausted, and he wondered for what. He knew of course, but some days were much harder than others to get through, and what he truly wondered was when the payoff would come. Wanting to realize his dream was one thing, but, first and foremost, he needed to pay his share of the rent, and Kurt had already nearly fallen behind. He couldn't place the burden on Blaine and Santana, or worse, beg his dad for emergency funds. Kurt was too proud for that, and he wanted to prove to everyone as well as himself that he could make it in the business.

Following his Broadway debut, he'd been to several auditions, but callbacks were few and far between, and he never seemed to be able to secure a part. So he'd gone back to speak with some of his professors, and they'd imparted their advice, urging him to seek out talent agencies.

And that's what Kurt had been tirelessly doing, desperately waiting for his break.

While crossing 37th Street, Kurt's phone buzzed against his thigh, and he fished it out of his pocket, taking a moment to examine the unfamiliar number on the screen before answering and bringing the phone to his ear.

"This is he. Yes. Of course! Oh, okay. Yes. Definitely. I really appreciate it, and I can't wait to meet with you! Thank you so much. I hope you have a wonderful day too."

Safely on the other side of the street, Kurt held the phone in his hands, staring at the now blank, dark screen in disbelief.

He'd just been picked up by a talent agent, someone who'd actually seen him on Broadway, and they wanted to promote him and help him book more acting jobs. It was finally happening, and an enormous smile took over his features before he literally jumped for joy, not caring about the looks he was receiving from the people passing him on the street.

It felt like there was electricity coursing through his veins, like he'd just been zapped awake after a long slumber. He couldn't wait to tell Blaine, and he wanted to do it in person, so he raced to the subway entrance to hop a train back to Bushwick.

-s-

With the help of his agent, Kurt had been to several auditions over the past few months, successfully securing small gigs and a few larger roles. Blaine was becoming used to not seeing Kurt around as often, and he'd work through his senior coursework, often lost in his head or singing to himself. Though the pros far outweighed the cons, it was sometimes too easy to begin to resent Kurt for his newfound success, and Blaine secretly wished that he could still have Kurt all to himself like it was after he'd graduated and was virtually unemployed.

But he knew it was silly, and he knew it was selfish to feel that way. Kurt was happy now, and steady jobs not only meant that Blaine got to watch Kurt perform, but it meant that they'd not had to worry about their monetary situation in a while. Blaine could admit that it was nice, and he could finish his final year at NYU with relatively low stress.

So he sucked it up, and he was grateful to have someone like Kurt who provided him with the comfort that came with unconditional love and support. Best of all, they believed in each other, and as soon as Blaine was finished college, he'd be out there doing much of the same, working long, sometimes unpredictable hours, but, at the end of the day, they'd still come home to each other.

The door of the loft slid open, and Blaine looked up from his laptop, smiling and jumping up out of his seat when Kurt entered.

"Welcome home," he said, throwing his arms around Kurt, and Kurt embraced him back before planting a brief kiss on his cheek.

"It's great to be home, believe me," Kurt said, separating from Blaine and making his way over to the table to take a seat.

Blaine resumed his earlier seat, plopping down into the chair and closing his laptop to give Kurt his undivided attention. As far as he was concerned, it was Kurt and Blaine time now, and his homework could wait.

"Speaking of home," Kurt began, fidgeting a bit, "I wanted to talk to you about finally moving out of the loft."

"Have you been looking at places? Can we really afford to do that right now?" Blaine said, grabbing Kurt's hands atop the table.

"I have found a few places, but I wanted to wait until we could sit down and I could get your input. There are some small places that are much closer to NYU, and though it's a bit of a stretch, we will be able to afford it. Plus, living closer to the university will save you money on transportation which will help a lot."

"Are we really going to do this? Live together in Manhattan? Just you and me?"

"Yeah, Blaine. It's really going to happen."

"This is fantastic!" Then Blaine's face fell a little. "But what about Santana? She couldn't possibly afford the loft on her own. She'd need to find new roommates or something."

"I've thought about how I would break the news to her, but she's a big girl, and I'm sure she'll be able to figure out her living situation."

"That's true. She's resourceful when she needs to be."

"Which I think is just a really nice way of saying manipulative and unrelenting in her methods of getting what she wants and needs." Kurt smirked knowingly.

Blaine simply nodded. "Also true."

"So, it's decided then. We'll talk to her tonight when she gets in from her shift at the diner," Kurt said, crossing his fingers, hoping that everything would go as smoothly as he needed it to.

-s-

Luckily, Santana arrived home in an unusually good mood, and Kurt stopped her outside the bathroom to invite her to sit down to talk.

"Are we having a lady chat?" she asked, crossing her arms and leaning back in the chair. "I've been dying for you to invite me to be included in one of these. I thought it was exclusively a Berry privilege, but I guess I was wrong. Or maybe since she's been gone, you're just getting desperate."

"It's about something important, Santana," Kurt said, refraining from rolling his eyes. "Blaine and I are looking to move out."

"Oh, wow. How soon? Like, tomorrow? Because, Hummel, this is quite the bomb to drop on me."

"I know, and we don't want to inconvenience you or leave you stranded. Blaine and I are looking to move into the city, since I've been picking up more jobs and our new income allows for it. It's just that - I think it's finally time. We won't leave until you've figured out your living situation."

"Thank you for being so considerate, and I guess I have news for you too. I'm moving out as well."

"What?"

"I'm moving out too. What don't you understand about that?"

"No, I mean, when did you decide that?"

"Brit and I have been talking about it since we got back together, and I think it's time we got more serious, so I'm glad you made it so that I don't really have a choice."

"Where are you going? Have you figured that out yet?" Blaine asked, concerned.

"For the most part, but nothing is concrete yet. New York has been quite the adventure, but I've found that it's not really for me. I can at least cross 'making it in the big city' off my bucket list, but I think it's time for me to keep moving on. We're headed West. I'm not sure where we'll end up yet, maybe L.A., but our first stop is Vegas."

"Oh, how responsible of you," Kurt said in jest. "And what exactly is in Vegas?"

"Endless means of debauchery and every way to sin under the sun. The real question should be, what isn't in Vegas?"

"Gay marriage is legal there now," Blaine chimed in.

"I know," Santana said, her gaze seeming distant for a moment, and then her expression softened and her eyes dropped to the tabletop.

Kurt cleared his throat, and Santana looked back up. "Good luck, then," he said, unsure of how else he should handle the news. He didn't agree with her decision or think it was responsible in the slightest, but he had to at least give her credit for being set on something, for settling down to a degree with Brittany who truly loved her, and for being unafraid to take risks and live her life the way she wanted regardless of what others thought. Santana was her own person, and Kurt respected her for that above all else.

-s-

"I always thought it was a joke when people referred to New York City apartments as shoeboxes," Blaine said, looking around at the miniscule, approximately three-hundred-twenty square foot space.

"Nope. This is the real deal. I'm pretty sure I'll barely be able to fit my shoe collection in the entirety of this place," Kurt joked.

"But I still think it's nice," Blaine said earnestly. After all, it was conveniently located in Greenwich Village, the building practically part of NYU's campus, which was a real plus. And Blaine loved that it was on Sullivan Street, prompting him to hum a slightly more upbeat version of the Counting Crows song of the same name during the trip over.

"At the least, it's a start," Kurt said. "We need somewhere to grow from."

Blaine turned to the realtor who'd been standing just outside the open door. "We'll take it," he said with a grin.

Kurt gently grabbed his arm. "Wait, Blaine, are you absolutely sure?"

"I am. I think this place is perfect. We can make it work."

"Okay," Kurt said, a smile creeping onto his face. He turned to address the realtor this time. "Where do we sign?"

-s-

The late afternoon sun glared down on the building, piercing through the tinted glass of the square-paneled windows and casting faint spotlights on the bare wooden floor, on nothing but ghosts of what had taken place there. Looking around, It was hard to believe that anyone had lived there, the only remaining evidence a pale yellow and green heart painted on the far wall where Rachel's bedroom area had once been, within it, the name of a beloved and Kurt's late step-brother.

When Kurt had cleared out the remaining furniture, he'd uncovered the image, and his chest ached with nostalgia and grief as he tried his best to maintain his composure and not break down sobbing. He'd flashed back to the day brush had touched brick, when they'd first arrived and moved into the loft, merely an empty warehouse at the time. They'd painted and worked through the night, stopping only to eat and have a bit of fun by riding bicycles around the open space, and then continued through the week, furnishing and transforming it.

"So, I guess this is it then," Blaine said, looking into the empty loft apartment from the entranceway. Though he hadn't been there since the start, it had held so many memories for them, used to be so full of life, and now it was simply an empty shell of a room.

"You know...I remember when it was just me and Rachel. We made this place into the home that it was, and it was even more than that. People came and went, we laughed, we cried, celebrated so many things. We mourned and bonded...But it's time to leave it behind. We've all grown out of it. Rachel left it behind months ago, Santana is off starting a new life with Brittany, I'm working full-time as an actor, and now it's our turn to fly the coop."

"But you're gonna miss this place. I know I will," Blaine said, reaching for Kurt's hand and interlacing their fingers.

Kurt looked down at their hands, lifting them a little and taking a deep breath. "Yeah, there's no doubt I will. New York has been an adventure, but this place was just the beginning. We should - we should go now before I start crying," Kurt said, his voice beginning to crack.

They had made that single room of an apartment a home, and Kurt would always think on it fondly as his springboard for his future and life in New York, but it was time to say goodbye and close the door one last time, pull the heavy wooden door closed on its track, and never look back.

-s-

It took about a month to become acclimated with the new neighborhood, and there were certainly things that neither Kurt nor Blaine had ever anticipated that made their day to day living experience quite interesting, namely, their neighbors and their habits and hobbies.

Not only was their apartment tiny, but everything was close quarters, and they soon got to know everyone around them much more intimately than they had ever wanted to.

They'd hardly introduced themselves, though they often passed their neighbors in the halls or just outside the building. Names were still a cloudy subject, and that's why Kurt and Blaine had nicknames for those individuals.

There was an older woman, an artist, who they referred to as Kooky Kathy, but never to her face. She could often be found wandering around the interior of the building and on the outside walk, constantly asking if she could draw or paint them and others who passed by. While she was clearly their neighbor, she appeared homeless, and Kurt and Blaine treated her kindly, but mostly they were just confused.

Right next door, there lived a really nice gay couple in their late thirties, whose bedroom was coincidentally on the other side of their bedroom wall. It was almost too cliché, but amusing nonetheless when Kurt and Blaine first realized that the couple had very loud, noisy sex. They were 'screamers'. At first, they'd begin to hear it on occasion, and then Blaine eventually noticed a pattern that was unbelievably consistent, as if they had a schedule. At precisely ten thirty every other evening and at seven in the morning every Sunday, the men could be heard, their headboard banging up against the wall and clearly stated expletives among other sounds, some that were almost inhuman. Although admittedly hilarious yet uncomfortable, as a result, Kurt and Blaine now knew exactly when to plan nights out as well as early morning walks before Sunday brunch to avoid overhearing the antics of the Scream Queens as they'd dubbed the couple.

The neighbor that was Kurt's favorite was the one who he personally nicknamed The Phantom. Although they had never actually met her and had not the slightest clue which apartment she lived in, somewhere in the building there was a female opera singer whose voice they would hear coming through the vents nearly every day. She possessed a beautiful voice, so it wasn't bothersome, but Kurt and Blaine often laughed about it, continuously puzzled, wondering when they'd finally unmask the mysterious talent.

There was something else Kurt began to notice about the neighborhood every time he left the apartment: there were a couple of stray cats. At first, he'd thought they'd belonged to one of his neighbors because they liked to hang out in the alleyway between their building and the adjacent one, and they were very friendly, often winding around his legs if he paused as he passed, but it soon became clear that these furry creatures were indeed homeless.

Then one day one of the cats disappeared, and the other sat sadly on the curb, looking out across the way, seemingly at nothing, and Kurt's heart broke a little for it.

He didn't know what had become of the other cat or if it would return, but after days passed, he found himself growing more and more concerned for the lonely creature. So, on his way back from a rehearsal, he stopped by the corner market and purchased some kibble. He left the food out in a small container for the cat and then hurried up to his apartment, still too afraid to touch the animal or get too close to it.

The following day, the cat disappeared.

Kurt was on his way home, and the feline was nowhere to be seen. The food container was empty, but the cat was no longer frequenting its usual domain, which worried Kurt.

Feeling a little down, he entered the apartment building, climbed the stairs, and then stopped dead in the hall, taking in an unexpected sight.

Kurt chuckled and then cooed. "Now, how did you get in here?"

The cat, recognizing him and his voice, rose from its spot in front of his and Blaine's apartment door, and trotted silently over to him, rubbing its face on his leg and purring in greeting.

He laughed again, making his way to the door and inserting his key in the lock. As he stepped inside, the cat followed him right in, and Blaine looked up and over, his brow furrowed.

"Kurt?" He said slowly. "What is that cat doing in here?"

"Um, it's sort of a long story? It's a stray that lives in the alley -"

"Yeah, I've seen it before."

"Yeah...well, it used to have a friend, but then the friend disappeared, and it looked so sad, and then I kind of...fed it?" Kurt said, appearing guilty for making an amateur mistake.

"_Kurt_," Blaine groaned. "You never feed them, Kurt. If you feed them, they come back, and they never leave you alone. Like right now."

"I know. I'm really sorry, I should have known better."

But the look Kurt gave Blaine next was anything but apologetic. Instead, it said that maybe Kurt didn't want the cat to leave him alone.

Blaine couldn't argue with Kurt when he was looking at him like that, and he sighed.

"Alright, I see where this is heading. Do you want to keep it?"

"Are you serious? You wanna take it in?"

"As long as we take it to the vet immediately for shots, a check up, and to make sure he - or she - is spayed or neutered, then I don't see the problem." Blaine's expression softened significantly as he looked down at the cat by Kurt's feet. "I mean, look at it. It's practically claimed you, and I don't think I have much of a choice. Honestly, I don't have the heart to put it back out on the street if we can give it a home."

Kurt dove across the room, wrapping Blaine up in his arms and kissing him firmly on the mouth.

"Thank you! You're the best!"

"I'm gonna grab my coat because we need to go find something to transport the cat in before we can do anything else," Blaine said, his face alight, mirroring the joy in Kurt's expression.

-s-

Carrier in hand, Blaine stood back as Kurt unlocked their door, and he followed him in, gently setting the carrier and cat down on the floor. Kurt unloaded the several bags of supplies they'd picked up at the pet store on the way back from the veterinarian, setting them on the table and by the couch, and then turned to Blaine who was now crouched down about to let their new pet and roommate out of her confines.

Yes, they'd found out the cat was female and that she'd already been fixed and may have been a runaway or abandoned pet, hence why she was so tame and friendly. Kurt and Blaine spent the whole cab ride back discussing names for her until Kurt finally decided on Vivienne, after one of his fashion idols Ms. Westwood of course.

"Look at her," Blaine said. "Viv acts like she owns the place already."

"Cats are highly intelligent," Kurt said, watching the cat exit the carrier and quickly take to the couch, settling in with ease.

Following dinner, Kurt and Blaine relaxed with a movie, cuddling up next to each other. As much as Kurt would have loved to curl up on the couch as Blaine was with his feet up on the cushion, he couldn't because Vivienne was peacefully asleep in his lap, a ball of white, brown, and gray fur. He didn't want to disturb her, so he figured he could deal with the slight discomfort if it meant their new baby felt safe and loved.


End file.
